The company, which assembles the single-aisle airliner in Renton, Wash., said it is going to build 737s at the increased rate of 42 airplanes per month. That’s up 33% from 31.5 planes a month since 2010.

Mechanics will load initial parts into an automated assembly machine on Wednesday, which marks the start of the new rate, Boeing said. The first 737 built at the new rate is scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter.

"This rate increase once again reflects our commitment to put the world's best-selling airplane into the hands of our customers as quickly as possible," Beverly Wyse, Boeing vice president and program general manager, said in a statement. "Efficiency improvements in the factory, many of them developed by our employees, are a big part of why we are able to successfully increase the number of airplanes we build."

Boeing's announcement comes less than a week after it reported record revenues of $86.62 billion in 2013. The company said it plans to deliver 715 to 725 airplanes in 2014, up from last year's record of 648.

If all goes to plan, the Chicago-based company plans on increasing the 737 production rate to 47 planes a month in 2017.

A burst of thunderstorm activity across the Chicago-area in mid-afternoon Sunday resulted in multiple injuries and a death at an event in west suburban Wood Dale, the collapse of a dome in northwest suburban Rosemont and the temporary evacuation of the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park...

Now there are two: Zimbabwe accused a Pennsylvania doctor on Sunday of illegally killing a lion in April, adding to the outcry over a Minnesota dentist the African government wants to extradite for killing a well-known lion named Cecil in early July.